What $1,000,000 buys in Northern California

Poppy Lane is a quiet, one-block street in the Berkeley hills that ends at a small public park where people come to climb Remillard Rock, watch their kids in the tiny playground, or play fetch with their dogs.

The Meyer lemon tree out front bears fruit all year long.

Bougainvillea and black bamboo hide the vaguely Japanese-looking house from the street. We’re thinking of selling the place and moving on next month.

The back deck is a tranquil spot for reading or meditation. .

The deck looks out to the redwood grove at the far end of the back yard.

View of the back of the house from the redwood grove.

We’ve let the back yard revert to nature. Skunks, raccoons, and deer sometimes take up residence.

The four rooms on the lower level look out on the back yard.

The squirrels are entertaining but I wish they won’t eat all the pears.

Deer sometimes sleep under the back deck.

I plan to put 30 Poppy on the market in about a month. In a grand Bay Area tradition, friends and acquaintances get first dibs. Drop me a line if you are interested. No real estate agents, please. ,

4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 decks
2,016 sqft, Lot 7,748 sqft, built 1961.

exported from next post

Continuing the photo tour of our outpost on Poppy Lane in North Berkeley.

What you see from Poppy Lane…

…and what you see if you peek over the fence.

Looking from the dining room to the front deck.

Here’s the view through the dining room. The top floor resembles a glass shoe-box. I’ll show you the view to the west from the southern end of the house to the north.

Inside, to the left of the front door is my office. Sliding door for privacy.

From my office.

The kitchen.

From the living room.

Slide show

Location.

The house is two blocks from the crest of the ridge across the bay from San Francisco.

Rock climbers frequent the two neighborhood parks. Cragmont Park has a magnificent panorama of the U.C. Berkeley campus. From atop Remillard Rock you can see the Marin Hills, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, and south along the San Francisco peninsula. We are a brief walk from an immense regional park, where I frequently go hiking.

Down the hill, a five-minute drive or twenty-minute walk, is the Berkeley “Gourmet Ghetto,” home of Cafe Panisse, the Cheese Board, the original Peet’s Coffee, the farmer’s market, Black Oak Books, our wine merchant, and the first outlet for Ecco shoes in America.